SerpApi.Org
Kentucky regulators have approved funding for a study that will use advanced diagnostic imaging to evaluate racehorses scratched before competition for fetlock lameness, with researchers hoping to better understand the injuries present in those horses and how imaging findings relate to their return to racing.
The Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation (KHRGC) voted July 21 to approve two funding requests recommended by the Equine Drug Research Council: $93,000 for the first year of a University of Kentucky-led research project and a separate $500,000 request from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association (KTA) to cover advanced imaging costs for horses enrolled in the study. The KTA also agreed to contribute up to an additional $100,000 should imaging costs exceed the approved funding. The imaging fund is expected to cover approximately 150 horses participating in the research.
The study, “From Scratch To Back On Track,” is led by Dr. Bruno Menarim, an associate professor of Musculoskeletal Sciences at the University of Kentucky’s Gluck Equine Research Center, and will focus on horses scratched before races for fetlock lameness. Researchers will use positron emission tomography (PET) scans to evaluate both bone and soft tissue disease activity, then follow those horses to determine how imaging findings relate to their return to training and racing, as well as their longer-term performance.
The overarching goal of the study, Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation equine medical director Dr. George Mundy told commissioners, is to develop measures that reduce fatal musculoskeletal injuries, support racing stakeholders and improve racehorse welfare. Mundy said approximately 85 percent of fatal musculoskeletal injuries occur in the fetlock, making it the primary focus of the project.
The study will analyze data collected by the KHRGC, including regulatory veterinary examinations, pre-race scratches, diagnostic findings, and racing outcomes. Investigators hope to determine how frequently horses scratched for fetlock lameness exhibit active disease on PET imaging and whether those findings are associated with the horses' short- and long-term return to racing.
The funding approvals came as Kentucky officials reviewed veterinary oversight statistics from Churchill Downs' 2026 spring meet, where 3,343 horses started. Kentucky's chief racing veterinarian Dr. Nick Smith said regulatory veterinarians issued 103 veterinary scratches during the meet, including 72 horses scratched before races (69 for soundness-related concerns and three for injuries), and 31 horses scratched after arriving on track (26 of them for soundness-related reasons and five for paddock or gate injuries). Churchill's spring meet recorded three racing fatalities, all musculoskeletal, for a fatality rate of 0.87 per 1,000 starts.
The Equine Drug Research Council recommended funding only the first year of the University of Kentucky study, with investigators expected to report their progress at the end of fiscal year 2027 before additional funding is considered.
